


how to get the girl

by vulpexin



Category: K-pop, Real Person Fiction, Red Velvet (K-pop Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/M, btsvelvet, sort of friends with benefits??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 23:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13646949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vulpexin/pseuds/vulpexin
Summary: Step One: Make sure the girl you're in love with doesn't lead a double life as your enemy.Unfortunately, Jungkook's never been great at following instructions. Perhaps that's the reason why he makes such a great superhero.





	how to get the girl

**Author's Note:**

> literally word vomit with so many loose threads i could knit a scarf ;-; i'm sorry

It’s not like Jungkook just woke up and decided _hey, now’s a_ great _time to develop feelings for my arch-nemesis_. Contrary to popular belief, he’s not _stupid_. If it were up to him, he would have chosen to develop a crush on her before he got roped into this whole superhero thing. Or, maybe he would have chosen to not catch any feelings for her at all. But the fact is, he doesn’t even realize he’s in too deep until one day, when he’s suddenly fucking _frozen_ from the waist up and Yoongi’s yelling obscenities at him but all he can think about is the terrified look Copycat had been sporting right before Yoongi had tried to attack her.

 

Later, after Yoongi had calmed down significantly, he told Jungkook that he had been protecting a replica of Copycat, that had he died, he would have risked his life for nothing.

 

“Well, Jungkook was never the brightest,” Sooyoung says as she flips her hair over a shoulder with a deceivingly sweet smile. She’s perched on the kitchen counter and nibbling at a granola bar. Her eyes are trained on Seokjin, who’s tending to Yoongi’s cheek in the same room.

 

“Says the English major,” Jungkook retorts from his position on the couch a few feet away.

 

Sooyoung narrows her eyes and takes a particularly large, vicious bite of her granola bar. “And of _course_ you have to just go ahead and prove that all engineers have a superiority complex.”

 

“If you two don’t stop arguing, I’ll kick all of you out,” Seokjin warns.

 

“It’s my apartment too,” Yoongi protests.

 

Seokjin presses down a little harder than necessary on Yoongi’s wound, making the latter yelp. “Your point is? I don't have to help you guys, you know. It’s not like I can even write this off as volunteering on my resume.”

 

Jungkook snorts; he knows that despite Seokjin’s constant grumbling, it’s all empty threats. As a biology major looking to go into med school, Seokjin is the busiest out of the four. Still, he always finds time to help Yoongi and Jungkook, the two superhumans, whenever they get hurt, claiming that it’ll be good practice for the future. As for Sooyoung, the only reason she even knows about Yoongi and Jungkook is because she accidentally walked in on them once (and multiple times since) while they were in the middle of changing.

 

“I still can’t believe you actually went ahead and developed a crush on her,” Sooyoung speaks up after a stretch of silence. “Like _please_ try to be more cliche.”

 

Jungkook reluctantly stays silent when Seokjin glares at him. The thing is, despite always facing off of each other, Copycat is actually sort of _sweet_ for a villainess. She’s an enigma for sure—she never participates in the big scale attacks and has a surprisingly clean record—but little parts of her personality still shine through. Like the time when there was an unspoken truce between the superhumans during finals week (because _everybody_ knows that most heroes and villains are college students or around that age) and he’d see her crouch down and leave food out for a bunch of strays on his patrol. Or the time when she selflessly stepped in front of Black Cat, taking the brunt of Seungcheol’s electricity attack.

 

He knows he has a crush on her but the realization of how deeply he cares doesn’t hit him until he’s splayed on his bed later that night and the last thing he thinks of is _her_ before he falls asleep.

 

(He’s fucked, isn’t he?)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Jungkook has to rub his eyes to make sure that the image of Yeri walking around in his apartment as if she damn near _owns_ the place isn’t just a hallucination or anything. Yeah, he stares some more. She’s still there.

 

“Taehyung gave me your spare keys,” Yeri says tersely, not even sparing a glance at him as she unloads the contents of her backpack on his kitchen table. She nods towards a pair of keys on the counter. “He told me to give them back to you.”

 

Jungkook raises an eyebrow and leans against the doorframe. “And why are _you_ still here?” They’re more acquaintances than anything else, mostly because their paths don’t cross often.

 

“Because,” Yeri says, drawing out the last syllable, “you’re going to be helping me with this programming assignment.”

 

“I am?”

 

Yeri’s already booting up her laptop as she agrees, “Yes, you are.”

 

He laughs disbelievingly; now he gets the reason behind Taehyung’s cryptic and slightly terrifying “btw you’ll have a visitor tomorrow” text. “Do I get anything out of it?” he says as he slides into the seat next to her’s.

 

He’s only joking but as Yeri looks him up and down purposefully, he remembers there _was_ that one time when they got a little too drunk and a little too handsy at the same party, resulting in them waking up together in an unfamiliar bed in the morning. “I’m sure I’ll think of something,” she says with a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.

 

He’s more than a little intrigued.

 

(Distantly, he wonders if maybe this isn’t a good idea, especially when he already has feelings for another person. But really, it’s a one sided crush so he pushes the thought of his mind.)

  
  
  
  
  
  


“Jeon Jungkook,” Yoongi says slowly, looking as if he would like nothing more but to slam his head against the wall, “you can’t be fucking serious.”

 

“What?” Jungkook deflates before looking at the flowers in his hands. “You don’t think she’d like it?”

 

“When would you even give it to her?” Yoongi demands as he pulls his suit on. “After she kicks your ass because you’ve been too busy making heart eyes at her?”

 

Well, when Yoongi puts it _that_ way, it just sounds stupid. “Fine,” Jungkook says as he finally starts changing much to Yoongi’s relief. “I’ll think of something else.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“I hate this,” Yeri practically snarls, glaring at her poor laptop as if it’s the sole cause for everything wrong in the world. Jungkook looks at her warily; she’s scary when she’s mad.

 

“If you learned how to use the debugger, it’d get a lot easier,” Jungkook tells her. He pulls her laptop into his lap with relative ease.

 

“Print statements work just as well and they’re not confusing,” Yeri defends herself stubbornly. She reaches over for her coffee while she yawns. It’s getting ridiculously late and they’re _still_ in their school’s library working on homework.

 

“Sure,” Jungkook agrees flippantly as he starts scrolling. “And that’s why your code still doesn’t work after you’ve spent the whole day trying to figure it out.” He glances at her. Tilts his head a little. “Why are you taking this class anyways? I thought linguistic majors didn’t have to take any computer science courses.”

 

Yeri huffs, a pale pink dusting her cheeks. “ _Well_ , I took the introductory course for non majors and liked it so I thought I’d try to minor in computer science.”

 

He shoots her a lazy smile. “How’s that going for you?”

 

“Horrible, thank you very much.” She buries her face in her hands. “I don’t know how you do it as your _major_.”

 

Jungkook shudders as he recalls days of trying to figure out the sources of multiple segfaults and memory leaks. “Believe me, I’m still struggling.” He tilts the laptop screen towards her. “Here, the reason why you’re not getting the output you expected is because you never initialized the memory you allocated to be anything other than a garbage value.”

 

“Oh.” Yeri takes her laptop from him, a frown on her lips. He observes the slight furrow between her brows, the complete concentration in her eyes and the look of disbelief that crosses her face once she runs the program again. “Oh my god. I owe you one,” she finally says.

 

He looks away uneasily when his heart skips a beat at the bright look in her eyes. He clears his throat. “You owe me a lot,” he teases as he starts packing his stuff.

 

“I’ll make you dinner,” she offers, then continues at his mischievous glance, “ _only_ because all the restaurants are closed and your fridge is always empty.”

 

“Only because of that?”

 

“Only because of that,” she confirms.

 

(Which is a total _lie_ because two hours later, her back is to the wall and her hands in his hair as he presses his lips up her throat. She might be a little attracted to him too.)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“All girls like chocolate right?”

 

“Maybe Copycat is deathly allergic to chocolate and you could be the cause of her indirect death.”

 

Jungkook stares at Yoongi, who looks oddly serious. “No way,” Jungkook says even though doubt creeps into his voice.

 

Yoongi shrugs nonchalantly as he pulls his mask on. “Why don’t you try?”

 

(Jungkook leaves the box of chocolate behind in his room and gives them to Yeri, who he knows for a fact _isn’t_ allergic to chocolate, the next day right before her computer science class.

 

“What’s this for?” Yeri says suspiciously. She’s holding the box awkwardly, like she doesn’t know what to do with it, and it’s cute image.

 

He grins at her. “Luck,” he tells her. “And for you to binge eat when you’re sad about your code crashing.”)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The sound of Sooyoung’s screech is what startles him out of his nap and causes him to almost fall out of his chair.

 

“What the _fuck_ , Kim Yeri. You’ve been seeing someone and you haven’t told me,” Sooyoung accuses, voice loud despite the white noise in the coffee shop. She slams her iced peach green tea lemonde down on the table and Jungkook snorts. How dramatic.

 

Yeri looks confused. “I haven’t though?”

 

“Then why do you have a hickey right _there_?” Sooyoung pokes at the base of Yeri’s neck. Yeri yelps and covers up the spot quickly, a blush working its way onto her cheeks.

 

Jungkook perks up, the corner of his lip curling up as he leans forwards with a glint in his eyes. “Yeah, Yeri. Who have you been messing around with?”

 

Yeri glares at him before shifting her gaze to Sooyoung. “Don’t worry Sooyoung, I’m never getting together with that jerk ever again.”

 

“Who is it?” Sooyoung presses.

 

“Nobody important,” Yeri insists.

 

“Really?” Sooyoung pulls out her phone, fingers flying across the screen as she says, “Then I guess you wouldn’t mind if I told Seungwan and Seulgi about this, right?”

 

“Only if you don’t mind me telling them that you’re dating Seokjin,” Yeri says, equally as sweet.

 

Jungkook coughs. “ _What?_ ” For once in her life, Sooyoung looks flustered at the attention. Yeri hides her smile behind her mug as Jungkook’s mind whirls to process this news. “You what?”

 

“It’s supposed to be a secret,” Sooyoung says and scowls at Yeri who merely shrugs. “Besides,” she continues, tracing out a design on the table, “we’re not really _dating_.” She looks noticeably more petulant. “Seokjin is really busy with school and research.”

 

Jungkook snorts. “Sooyoung’s in _love_ ,” he teases.

 

“Well so are you!” Sooyoung shoots back.

 

Yeri, who had been watching the exchange with amusement clear on her face, finally recoils. “You are?” she echoes.

 

Jungkook doesn’t know why he suddenly feels the need to defend himself, as if he was caught doing something wrong. They’re not even _dating_ ; whatever they have between them is purely physical. Still, he can’t help the guilt that creeps up on him. “I—” he hesitates. Sooyoung’s mouth drops as realization dawns on her. “I might be? Maybe.”

 

“Oh,” Yeri says. Her voice sounds off. It takes her a moment, but she finally smiles at him. “I’m happy for you,”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Are you okay?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Yoongi shrugs. “You look a little—”

 

“ _Jeon fucking Jungkook_.” The door slams open, revealing Sooyoung who looks pissed off. Yoongi jumps, holding his shirt to his chest in a futile attempt to cover himself while Jungkook just stares blankly at her. “Didn’t I tell you that Yeri was off limits?”

 

“Since _when_?”

 

“Since like after winter break! I told you not to go near _any_ of my friends.”

 

So long after he and Yeri had already hooked up. Yoongi looks at both of them.

 

“Listen, can you guys resolve your drama later? Namjoon paged me like half a hour ago and Jungkook and I were—”

 

“You’re like somebody else,” Sooyoung hisses, completely ignoring Yoongi, who throws his hands up in exasperation. “You’re going to break Yeri’s heart.”

 

“We aren’t even _dating_ ,” Jungkook argues.

 

“So you think it’s okay to play with Yeri’s feelings like that? She deserves more than just to be your play thing before you finally get together with the dumb villain!”

 

“Have you ever, I don’t know, considered the fact that she might not like me either? That she was okay with our _not_ relationship being purely physical?” His stomach turns as he says this because the truth is, while she may be okay with a physical relationship with him, he’s not sure if he’s okay with that anymore. Which just serves to make him even _more_ confused because he genuinely thought (thinks? He’s not sure anymore) that he liked Copycat.

 

If looks could kill, Jungkook would probably be dead by now. But thankfully, Sooyoung doesn’t have any superpowers of her own; the only weapon she has is her sharp tongue. “I’m going to talk to Yeri,” she finally says, “and if I find out that you hurt her in any way, emotionally or physically, I swear to god I’m going to kill you myself.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


(“Yeri . . .”

 

“Sooyoung, it’s fine. And you definitely didn’t need to bring ice cream over.”

 

“Hey, I didn’t know if that dumbass broke your heart or not. It sure as hell sounded like it when we were in the coffee shop.”

 

“He’s your friend too, Sooyoung.” _And I wasn’t heartbroken_ , she wants to add. But maybe she had grown just a little bit attached.

 

“You’re my best friend though.”

 

Yeri smiles at Sooyoung though her heart grows uneasy. She knows that Sooyoung doesn’t actually hate Jungkook, that she’s fiercely protective of all her friends—including him—but friendships that have been staying strong since 5th grade tend to outweigh everything else.

 

She wonders if their friendship would still hold up if Sooyoung found out her best friend was hiding a big secret from her.)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_11:23 AM_

**yeri:** you’ll still help me out with my homework right??

_Seen._

 

_11:25 AM_

**jungkook:** of course

_Seen._

  
  
  
  
  
  


“Uh, are you okay?”

 

Jungkook blinks. Copycat stands in front of him, hands on her hips and a vaguely concerned expression on her face. “You’re not stealing anything?” Tonight Yoongi and Jungkook had been called to stop a bank robbery. Yoongi suspected that Jungkook would be out of it so he had called Daniel, the werewolf, in for backup.

 

Copycat bristles. “I don’t _steal_.”

 

“Is this . . .”

 

She sighs loudly and crouches to sit down next to him. “Yes, it’s actually me.”

 

They’re sitting a few hundred feet away from where all the action is and Jungkook cringes when Daniel goes crashing through the glass front. Maybe he should help. But he’s felt oddly detached from everything these days.

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” she hesitantly asks. “What? There’s nothing to do if the hero I usually fight with isn’t actually doing anything.”

 

“I only do what I do to stop people like you,” he says absently.

 

She scoffs. “People like _me_. People who make sure self-absorbed heroes don’t kill so many civilians in their misguided quest to save the world.”

 

He frowns. “But you’re always fighting against us.”

 

“I don’t care what I’m labeled as, as long as I’m helping minimize casualties.” She gets up and turns to face him. “Look, I get that what you think you’re doing is good. But just . . . there’s a lot of innocent people who are caught in the crossfire and it’d be nice if you would sometimes pay attention to them.”

 

It takes Jungkook a moment to realize that she has extended her hand to him. He grasps it and she pulls him up. Oddly enough, the butterflies are more subdued than ever.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


(This is how Yeri’s story in the spotlight begins: with her holding the hand of a cashier who works at the bubble tea shop she frequences. _It’s okay,_ she encourages him between her tears, _somebody is going to come and save you._

 

It’s all futile.

 

He dies still holding her hand, still pinned under the debris of the building some hero had caused to fall during their fight with a villain. Under the debris of a building _she_ helped to collapse. As a superhero, she thought she was doing the right thing. But now—

 

There’s a heaviness in her bones, a strange feeling lingering in her stomach that leaves a bad taste in her mouth and she knows that even if she doesn’t want to, even if she wishes that everything was clearly black and white, it’s _not_ and she can’t do this anymore.

 

She gets to live with the knowledge that his blood will forever be stained on her hands and that she’s a murderer.

 

If this is what superheroes face everyday, she thinks numbly, then she doesn’t want to be one at all.)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Listen, I don’t want you to be mad at me. And maybe I don’t know all the answers right now, but I do know that I like you. A lot. Probably more than I should. I hope that’s enough for now.”

 

He fidgets under her gaze and curses at himself for choosing such a bad time to say all of this. But the fact is, he doesn’t know where she lives or her exact schedule; he just knows she has that computer science lecture at two so he had waited outside of the lecture hall and pulled her aside the moment he had a chance.

 

“What do you want?” There’s an unreadable expression on Yeri’s face as she shifts the shoulder strap of her bag.

 

“For us to go back to the way we were,” he tells her honestly. “I hate that we’re tiptoeing around each other now.”

 

Her eyes soften. “You want me to come barging into your apartment unannounced at 2 a.m. again?”

 

“You have the spare key?”

 

“Who else were you going to give it to?” she says, trying to act nonchalant. The way he’s looking at her, honey eyed and warm, makes her want to melt.

 

“Nobody,” he quietly responds, eyes searching her face. Then: “Can I kiss you?”

 

“Was it something we did before?”

 

He tries to read her expression—it’s caught between amusement and a dare. “Yes?”

 

“Then I don’t know why you’re asking,” she says, fondness swelling in her heart at his quick, relieved exhale. She’s about to say something but suddenly, his fingers are framing her face and he’s kissing her deeply, a little bit desperately, like he’s trying to find an answer to a question in her.

 

And that’s the end of that conversation.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Yeri knows that Jeon Jungkook is dangerous when suddenly, his stupid bunny smile makes her more nervous than, say, potentially dying from a fight.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s her fingers that make him finally connect the dots. He notices a lot of things about her—the dangerous way her frown can turn into a pout when she doesn’t get what she wants, the way she absolutely lights up when she talks about something she likes. But he notices her fingers the most. It’s hard not to, especially when she absentmindedly bites her finger, when she seems to find joy in pressing her freezing fingers against his abs right when he’s least expecting it, when he discovers she has a habit of tracing the curve of his neck and down his collarbone in the early morning.

 

She’s particular about her fingers, he notices. He notices the way they’re always trimmed just so her nails aren’t too long, but not too short. They’re always painted over with a glossy color—sometimes it’s a deep, royal purple, other times it’s a soft pastel blue.

 

(Lately though, she’s taken to painting her nails shades of pink more often especially after he told her that he liked how it looked on her, mostly because she claimed it was her favorite color.)

She never wears red though.

 

She has an aversion to red, he notices.

 

He notices it the first time Sooyoung shows off her newly dyed, vibrant cherry hair and Yeri’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. The second time, when Yeri was cleaning up her massive makeup bag and there were various nudes, pinks but not red.

 

But he digresses. The thing is, it’s her _fingers_ that makes him finally realize that Yeri and Copycat are the same fucking person.

 

He had helped her remove her nail polish because she had practically fallen asleep during the day. Then later at night, Copycat—or one of her replicas—had caught him with a particularly nasty blow. When he comes back to his apartment later, Yeri had been in his bathroom, cleaning her hands in a borderline obsessive way. When he went to grab her hands, she had recoiled immediately.

 

“You need to stop,” he says, horrified at the way her skin is rubbed red and raw.

 

Yeri laughs nervously. “You know I don’t like having dirty hands.” She seems anxious, too focused on the flecks of red stained under her nails. He tries grabbing her hands again; this time, he succeeds, much to Yeri’s alarm, and he keep his grip firm even as she trembles.

 

He wonders . . . “Let me paint your nails,” he says slowly.

 

She tilts her head. “What?”

 

“You don’t think I could do a good job?” he pouts.

 

Yeri hesitates but she doesn’t question it and they end up curled together on the ground, nail polish scattered everywhere. He chooses a deep blue speckled with gold and tries his best. It’s a slow shift but he still detects how Yeri visibly relaxes once her nails are painted over, once the traces of red are out of sight.

 

“Not bad,” Yeri says as she admires her nails. She’s on his lap now, her back to his chest, and he’s unable to prevent a smile even as a sense of foreboding overcomes him when she says, “Maybe you should paint my nails all the time.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


He doesn’t mean to be rough but Copycat grimaces anyways when he slams her back into the wall and pins her, hands wrapped around her wrists. It’s possibly the first and only time when he’s used his full strength against her but he _needs_ to find out whether his suspicions are true.

 

He glances at her hand slowly, dread pooling in his stomach, then at her fingernails. It’s dark but parts of the color still reflect in the moonlight.

 

Deep blue, speckled with gold.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The excuses that come out of his mouth and through his phone are almost laughable but he _needs_ some time alone and he can’t do that when Yeri has taken up residence in his heart and home.

 

He doesn’t even know how to _feel._ Sometimes he’s mad at her—and then he realized that she doesn't know who he is either. Other times, he feels betrayed that she’s essentially aligned herself with the bad guys—and then he remembers her saying that all she wanted to do was protect civilians. And then he’s confused because he had essentially fallen in love with Copycat, then out of love with Copycat when he met Yeri. Who he’s in love with.

 

Jungkook swallows.

 

(He’s fucked, isn’t he?)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


His brain just stops working when he sees a familiar figure crouched on the ground, her entire frame shaking visibly. _Yeri._ He skids to a halt in front of her and she looks up, eyes wet. It’s been a while since he’s seen her but she’s as beautiful as ever. She’s wearing his favorite hoodie, he notices absentmindedly, the one he had gotten from a Big Bang concert, and the sleeves and her fingers are stained a dark red.

 

“Help her,” Yeri begs, snapping him out of his haze. He finally registers that Yeri’s supporting someone—Jisoo, he recognizes—whose arm is bent at an unnatural angle, throat bruised and bloody, skin deathly pallid.  

 

“You’re hurt,” he just says stupidly. Because all he can notice is how the ugly gash on her forehead and the blood trickling down her face and dangerously close to her eye. Because time didn’t quell any of his tumultuous feelings for her and he’s still in _love_ with her and his first instinct is to take her away from all this chaos. He doesn’t even realize Yeri’s pushing Jisoo into his arms until Yeri’s stepping back.

 

“Please get her to a hospital,” Yeri says and rummages in her purse for a pen and a receipt. She scribbles something down—it’s almost unintelligible given how badly she’s shaking but he recognizes the string of numbers. It’s her phone number. “Please get her to a hospital and tell me which one she’s at,” Yeri repeats as she tucks the paper into Jisoo’s pocket. She sounds urgent despite her fear. “Okay? You have to remember.”

 

“Okay,” he says faintly and takes a step back. Yeri’s eyes are still on Jisoo and he’s struck with how _vulnerable_ she looks, almost drowning in his dirtied hoodie, tear tracks on her face and hair matted with blood and dirt. “Hey,” he says and she finally meets his gaze. He doesn’t know what it says about him when the only person he really cares about being safe right now is her. “I’ll come back to you.” She stays silent. “I’ll come back to you,” he repeats, this time with more conviction.

 

She looks conflicted, like she’s remembering something that she would very much like to forget.

 

“I _promise_ ,” he says.

 

“Remember to tell me where you bring her,” is all she says in the end.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


(He doesn't expect her to stay, but he goes back for her anyways. He feels like the sinking feeling in his chest is right until he notices her, crouched next to some rubble. Her legs are pulled to her chest and her arms are wrapped around her legs.

 

_Yeri_ , he wants to say, but he doesn’t know if this is the right time to blow his cover. He stops in front of her. She notices him and looks up.

 

“I think I sprained my ankle,” she confesses, still wild eyed.

 

“I’ll bring you to Jisoo,” he says. She reaches out for him and he bends down to pick her up, one arm supporting her back and the other behind her legs. It’s a familiar feeling, him holding her to his chest, and he almost forgets that they’re in public.

 

Her words almost get lost in the wind when he runs but he hears them anyways, murmured against his collarbone, tinged with wonder and a little bit of disbelief: _you came back for me._ )

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Oh . . . Yeri.”

 

“I’m so sorry I got your favorite hoodie dirty. I tried getting it cleaned but—”

 

“It’s fine, I can always get another one,” he interrupts. “I, uh, was actually going to go look for you.”

 

Yeri blinks. Her eyes are still glossy and she’s clutching his hoodie to her chest. “You were?”

 

“I’m sorry that I shut you out,” he says. “I just needed space to think over some things.”

 

Maybe Yeri should be mad that he had shut her out so unexpected but the only thing she feels is a dull hurt that gets weaker with every moment she spends in his presence. They never said they were exclusive, she reminds herself, and if she was the only one who got attached, well, then it was all on her. “Did you end up figuring it out?”

 

She’s staring at him expectantly, wide eyed and oblivious to his inner turmoil. He has to swallow down the lump in his throat when he says, “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

 

_I’m in love with you._

  
  
  
  
  
  


“I’m so fucked,” Jungkook groans into his hands.

 

Sooyoung pats him on the shoulder and offers him some of her salad. “It was inevitable,” she says sagely. “Yeri is very lovable, you know.”

 

He glares at her between his fingers. “You’re _not_ helping.”

 

“If it makes you feel any better, I think she likes you too.”

 

He finally lowers his hands, a warm feeling spreading in his chest. “I guess it does,” he says, pointedly ignoring Sooyoung’s muttered, “ _Ridiculous_ ”.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“You have to take on Copycat from now on,” Jungkook says.

 

Yoongi rolls his eyes; at this point, he’s given up trying to figure out Jungkook’s relationship with the villain. “Alright.”

 

“But don’t be too harsh on her, you know? Like don’t give her frostbite or anything. Or throw her at anything. Or—”

 

“Okay, okay,” Yoongi interrupts, “I’ll be the one fighting her but I won’t hurt her at all. I get it.”

 

He nearly groans when Jungkook beams. _Kids these days._

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“You _knew_?”

 

And Jungkook knows she’s getting hysterical by the way her voice raises at the ends and the way she wraps her arms around herself—like she’s trying to protect herself from _him_.

 

He knew that he would have to reveal everything one day; he just didn’t know it would be because he got too careless and went back to his apartment still in his suit, drowsiness in his bones and clouding his mind.

 

“Listen,” Jungkook starts, then falters. Because what was he supposed to say? That yes, he knew but he was also irrevocably in love with her and her alter ego. That he hoped that maybe if he didn’t acknowledge their differences, they could spend the rest of their days together like this. “You didn’t tell me either.”

 

“Because I thought you were _normal_ and I didn’t want to bring you into this!” Yeri snaps. Heartbreak is painted on her face as she gets up and looks for her stuff, her movements hurried. “I’m going to go. I just need some time to think—”

 

“I love you,” he blurts out.

 

She freezes with her hand on the doorknob and for a moment, he thinks she might stay. Then her expression hardens and she says, “ _Don’t_.”

 

Jungkook wishes it’d be as easy as she makes it sound like, as if he can just _fall_ out of love with her the next time he exhales, as if he can just forget the curve of her lip within a second.

  
  
  
  
  
  


The next time they meet doesn’t bode well for them. Yeri looks pissed off and he’s more than a little mad too. “So I was fucking in love with you,” Jungkook yells as he dodges Yeri’s punch. “Is it really that bad?”

 

“ _Yes_ it’s bad,” Yeri snaps, fingers digging into her palm in frustration when he evades her next attack almost too easily. Damn speedsters. “Nothing about us would work out!”

 

“Really?” At this, Jungkook slows and nearly gets kicked for letting his guard down. “Not even as just . . . us? Jungkook and Yeri?”

 

Yeri swallows as she remembers waking up to Jungkook’s bright smile, his wandering fingers and messy hair. Remembers the way he liked to bury his nose in the crook of her shoulder, arms wrapped firmly around her waist and stay there for the longest time even as she half heartedly tried to remind him that they had work to do. “Not even as civilians,” she lies.

 

Jungkook has stilled now, mouth parted slightly and looking confused. He looks like he’s struggling to come to terms with this and something tugs at Yeri’s heart. Still, she resolutely steels up. Superheroes are bad news, she reminds herself.

 

“Listen, I don’t think we should ever see each other again. With or without our masks,” she tells him.

 

That, in the retrospect, was the hardest thing she had ever done. Watching the way he breaks down before his expression becomes unreadable and his eyes, cold.

 

He doesn’t say anything as he stalks away and despite the urge to follow him, Yeri stays rooted to the spot. This is what she wants. So why does she feel so guilty, so _heartbroken_ about it?

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


He should have known; the universe had given him so many warnings, planted so many stop signs right before Kim Yeri and he had ignored all of them.

 

(Tell me, how do you keep someone who doesn’t want to be kept?

 

You don’t.

 

That’s how.)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The dumbest part about almost dying is that he thinks about _her first._ He wonders whether or not she would have stepped in to save him when the mechanical dog’s jaw clamps on his leg, when the bullet embeds itself into his chest. Wonders, as the police are leading the villain away in handcuffs, if she would let him stay at her apartment, help him recover.

 

For the briefest of moments, he entertains the thought. Then he realizes he doesn’t even _know_ where she lives—that it was _him_ always opening himself up and letting her take pieces of him away with her everytime she left. That somehow, throughout the entire non-relationship they had, he still didn’t know anything about her, at least not in the way she knew about him.

 

He collapses on the floor in his living room. Logically, he knows that he should find Yoongi or Seokjin but in his pain addled, sleep deprived state, he types out a text to Yeri instead.

 

He stares at it, for the longest moment, finger hovering over the send button. It’s a moment of weakness but ultimately, his pride won’t let him give in first, not when she tore him apart. So he lets his phone slip from his hands and curls on his side, groaning as he does so.

 

Everything will be okay, he thinks. He just wants to sleep first.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_2:56 AM_

**jungkook:** if i asked you to come, would you?

_Seen._

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Yeri still has the key she stole from Jungkook; she never got around to giving it back. It comes in handy now though and Yeri can’t help the foreboding feeling from unnerving her as she opens the door and turns on the lights.

 

Red is everywhere. Yeri swallows the bile that’s threatening to rise up as she slowly follows the blood stained trail to his living room.

 

Jungkook’s laying there, so still that she would have thought he was dead if it weren’t for the slight rise and fall of his chest. Her hand automatically goes to cover her mouth to stifle the gasp at his bloodstained abdomen.

 

_You idiot_ , she thinks as she drops her purse and sheds her jacket to crouch down next to him. She carefully brushes his hair from his face and he stirs, leaning into her touch. She wonders how long it’s been since he’s collapsed and she gets her answer when she runs her fingers near the bottom of his stomach, where a bullet hole pierced his costume but there’s already a thin layer of skin covering a noticeable bump.

 

She doesn’t know what to do. So she makes him comfortable, turning him on his back and propping his head up with a pillow from his couch, and calls Sooyoung. The first time fails and she frowns, opening up her messenger app to text her: _you need to come to jungkook’s right now. he’s hurt_.

 

She waits anxiously for a response, fingers pressed against a pulse point on his wrist as she keeps her eyes on the screen. It startles her when she feels him moving under her touch.

 

“Yeri?” he says blearily. His eyes are unfocused, barely open and her heart aches as she smooths his hair and curls her fingers around his.

 

“I’ll get help,” she tells him and squeezes his hand gently. “Don’t die on me, okay?”

 

He laughs weakly, grip on her fingers growing looser. She’s worried about his shallow breaths. “Anything for you, Yeri.”

 

Before she second guesses herself, she leans forwards and presses her lips against his forehead as his eyelids flutter shut. She sees his phone peeking out from behind his back and she grabs it, conflicted. She tries to unlock it. Something in her aches when she finds that the passcode is still the same, still her birthday. There’s this little voice in the back of her mind that tells her not to do this, to just leave everything as it was but she pushes past it and opens his messenger app to delete his message to her.

 

Then she leaves to find Sooyoung.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


He wakes up with a scream tearing its way out his throat and hands firmly holding him down, preventing him from moving even as his back arches in pain.

 

“Grow up,” Sooyoung snaps from above him. She has her red hair curled up in a messy bun and she’s wearing an oversized, graphic t-shirt that Jungkook distinctly remembers Seokjin wearing once. “Because of _you_ , I had to wake up at five fucking o’clock in the morning and disturb Seokjin, who has a morning exam today and—” Sooyoung has always had a bite to her voice but she’s particularly nasty today.

 

“Aw,” Jungkook tries to grin through the pain, “You were worried for me.”

 

“You can die in hell for all I care,” Sooyoung says weakly just as Seokjin says, “Jungkook, stop moving so that I can get this bullet out of you.”

 

“You should have _told_ us,” Sooyoung continues, nails digging almost painfully into Jungkook’s shoulders as Seokjin continues trying dig the bullet out of his stomach. He winces. “What the hell were you thinking when you texted—”

 

“Sooyoung,” Yoongi warns. “That’s enough.”

 

Her eyes are glossy when she finally closes her mouth and looks away.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“How did you guys know?” he asks them afterwards. He’s laying on the couch, pillow supporting his head, with his feet resting on Sooyoung’s lap. He’s already feeling a lot better; with the bullet out, he’s able to heal properly. Seokjin and Yoongi are sitting next to each other on the floor, with the former napping on Yoongi’s shoulder.

 

“Instinct,” Yoongi says as he meets Sooyoung’s gaze.

 

Sooyoung sighs. “You texted us,” she elaborates without meeting his eyes. She’s still noticeably quiet as she traces circles on his ankle.

 

Jungkook can’t help the disappointment that blooms in his stomach. “Right.” Perhaps he had imagined Yeri in apartment that night then and the soft press of her lips to his forehead.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“You can come back into the action, if you want,” Yoongi offers cautiously. “She’s not there anymore either.”

 

“I think I’m done for a while,” Jungkook just says, words muffled by Yoongi’s pillow.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


He sees her in passing once. She’s sprawled on the grass typing something out on her laptop. There’s another girl reading a book next to her—Seulgi, he recognizes. Seulgi spots him first and waves. He waves back hesitantly but the moment Yeri starts glancing back, he turns around.

 

Heads back the way he came from, heart pounding and nails digging into his palms. This is _ridiculous_ , the way she still affects him.

 

(Selfishly, he hopes that he still affects her too.)

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Jungkook!”

 

Jungkook turns around at the sound of Taehyung’s voice—and immediately wishes that he hadn’t done so. Because Yeri is standing next to Taehyung, holding her books close to her chest as she looks everywhere but at him.

 

“Taehyung,” he greets warily. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Walking Yeri to her next class,” Taehyung answers cheerfully. Jungkook tenses at the way Taehyung casually slings his arm over Yeri’s shoulder; Taehyung’s a tactile person and it’s a friendly gesture, he knows but it still doesn't make him any less uneasy.

 

“I’ll leave you two to it then,” Jungkook says. Tries to smile, even as Yeri remains silent, a thoughtful look in her eyes.

 

He passes them, missing the way Yeri glances at him the moment his back is turned. Misses the way Yeri leans up to whisper something urgent in Taehyung’s ear, then runs after Jungkook as Taehyung shrugs and walks away.

 

“Jungkook!”

 

He instinctively freezes at the sound of her voice.

 

“Jungkook,” Yeri repeats as she steps in front of him.

 

He raises an eyebrow, tries to act casual despite his racing heart. “Aren’t you supposed to be with Taehyung right now?” He fails; the words come out bitter and Yeri widens her eyes.

 

“Are you _jealous_?” The question slips out before her brain catches up and suddenly, her stomach is twisting in knots at Jungkook’s gritted teeth. She doesn’t need him to answer; his expression is enough. “You are, aren’t you?”

 

There’s a fire in his eyes, something that looks like irritation mixed with fear when he says, “So what if I am? It doesn’t matter, now, does it?”

 

“It . . . could,” Yeri says tentatively. “If you still want it to.”

 

It’s like she’s offering his fragmented heart back with the promise that she’ll glue it back together and he’s tempted. But he’s scared too, that after his heart is whole again she’ll be the one to shatter it to pieces—again.

 

“I hate the color red,” Yeri suddenly says. She twists her fingers together to keep them from trembling, chin tilted up in defiance even as her eyes wander.

 

_I know_ , he wants to tell her but then he realizes—it’s an olive branch.

 

She’s opening up.

 

“Why do you hate it?” he asks cautiously. This, he doesn’t know. He remembers asking her about it once and she just replied, “ _Because I don’t._ ”

 

“It’s a long story,” Yeri mumbles. _A limp hand in her’s, dust from the debris of the shop filling up her lungs._ Pink settles high on her cheeks as she looks to the side and continues, “We can talk about it over coffee, if you want.”

 

“Okay,” he says after a moment. It’s a fleeting thought—if he should (if he _can_ ) hold her hand—but he doesn’t have to think about it anymore when she hesitantly slips her fingers through his. Her shy smile colors his grey skies and _finally,_ he allows himself to believe that everything will be okay between them.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It’s not like Jungkook just woke up and decided _hey, now’s a_ great _time to develop feelings for my arch-nemesis_.

 

(But in the end, he’s _really_ glad he did.)

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> outtakes (stuff that didn't make the cut lmao)
> 
> \- yoonseul was supposed to be a thing?? it was going to be based on the flash and iris west's dynamic, where seulgi is a journalism reporter that yoongi flirts with like all the time
> 
> “yoongi has a crush,” sooyoung sings out as she makes herself comfortable on jungkook’s bed.
> 
>  
> 
> “no i don’t,” yoongi snaps.
> 
>  
> 
> “oh really?” sooyoung leans forwards, eyes glinting mischievously. “so you don’t mind if i ask her out then?”
> 
>  
> 
> yoongi’s jaw tenses. “go for it,” he tells sooyoung.
> 
>  
> 
> she looks a little disappointed. jungkook sees it as his duty to try to help sooyoung out. “you know jimin was planning on asking someone out this week,” jungkook hints. it’s true but jungkook’s not actually sure who jimin was planning to ask out: seulgi or rose, the music major.
> 
>  
> 
> “so what if i liked her,” yoongi finally gives up, slumping against the wall. there’s a hint of bitterness in his voice as he says, “i think she likes someone else.”
> 
>  
> 
> \- plus scary but trying to be a good friend!sooyoung
> 
> “Oh no,” Yeri groans, causing Sooyoung to look over curiously. “I left my laptop at Jungkook’s. Let me go grab it quickly.”
> 
>  
> 
> She goes to leave but is stopped by Sooyoung’s firm grasp on her arm. “At Jungkook’s?” Sooyoung echoes.
> 
>  
> 
> “H-he was tutoring me,” Yeri invents.
> 
>  
> 
> Sooyoung looks unconvinced, even as her grip on Yeri relaxes. “You know he’s bad news,” Sooyoung warns.
> 
>  
> 
> “Don’t worry, I have this under control,” Yeri says.
> 
>  
> 
> \- people with powers in this fic:
> 
> yoongi with his ice powers ; seungcheol with electricity ; yeri as copycat (duplication) ; jungkook as quicksilver (super speed) ; jennie as black cat (bad luck)


End file.
